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Maharashtra government to bring in law on property attachment to punish its corrupt officials

Speaking in the state legislative council, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said they had issued a GR asking government officers to declare and submit details of their assets.

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To curb rampant corruption, the Maharashtra government has decided to bring a Bill on the lines of what the Bihar government has, wherein property of those accused in criminal cases and of corrupt officers will be confiscated and attached to the government.

Speaking in the state legislative council, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said they had issued a GR asking government officers to declare and submit details of their assets. "However, response to this decision has been lukewarm. Government employees are reluctant to declare their assets. Also, most officials indulge in corrupt practices, and the existing law is not effective to punish the guilty. Therefore, on the lines of Bihar, we have decided to table a bill in the next winter session. Our Home department is already in the process of preparing the draft bill," he added.

Presently, government officers booked for corruption or disproportionate assets continue to hold on to their ill-gotten wealth even as a long trial goes on in court. The court may just fine the corrupt public servant on conviction, besides giving him/her a jail sentence. "But under the proposed law, investigating agencies can get property of the accused attached, pending trial, and the same can be 'forfeited' to the government if the court convicts the guilty," said an official.

"We want to make a stringent law in order to bring down the number of corruption cases. We want a law that acts as a deterrent," Fadnavis added.

He also said that while investigating such cases the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will take the help of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). "The ED has expertise in financially complex cases; it can help the ACB make cases against corrupt officials watertight."

Fadnavis said that in the last seven months, the ACB had conducted 636 raids and arrested 820 people. "We have registered 21 cases of ill-gotten wealth. Compared with 2014, in 2015, the conviction rate has gone up by 6%. We have created a mobile app and a Facebook page to help people lodge complaints against corrupt officials easily. We have also started a toll-free number — 1064 — on which people can call and register complaints.

We have instructed all government offices to instal CCTV cameras on their premises and also told officials not to charge any taxes or government fees in the form of cash but accept the same only in the form of cheque," the CM said, adding that his government is putting emphasis on reducing human interference to reduce corruption.

The law in Bihar
The Bihar government's law empowers its ACB to attach property, even during the course of the investigation, against an accused. The property can be returned only if the accused is acquitted of all charges. Under this law, it had recently confiscated the property of a corrupt IAS officer after raids and converted the seized palatial bungalows into government schools.

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